What is "moss pink"

Pink \Pink\, n. [Perh. akin to pick; as if the edges of the petals were picked out. Cf. Pink, v. t.]

1. (Bot.) A name given to several plants of the caryophyllaceous genus Dianthus, and to their flowers, which are sometimes very fragrant and often double in cultivated varieties. The species are mostly perennial herbs, with opposite linear leaves, and handsome five-petaled flowers with a tubular calyx.

2. A color resulting from the combination of a pure vivid red with more or less white; -- so called from the common color of the flower.
   --Dryden.

3. Anything supremely excellent; the embodiment or perfection of something. ``The very pink of courtesy.''
   --Shak.

4. (Zo["o]l.) The European minnow; -- so called from the color of its abdomen in summer. [Prov. Eng.]

   Bunch pink is Dianthus barbatus.

   China pink, or Indian pink. See under China.

   Clove pink is Dianthus Caryophyllus, the stock from which carnations are derived.

   Garden pink. See Pheasant's eye.

   Meadow pink is applied to Dianthus deltoides; also, to the ragged robin.

   Maiden pink, Dianthus deltoides.

   Moss pink. See under Moss.

   Pink needle, the pin grass; -- so called from the long, tapering points of the carpels. See Alfilaria.

   Sea pink. See Thrift.

Moss \Moss\ (m[o^]s; 115), n. [OE. mos; akin to AS. me['o]s, D. mos, G. moos, OHG. mos, mios, Icel. mosi, Dan. mos, Sw. mossa, Russ. mokh', L. muscus. Cf. Muscoid.]

1. (Bot.) A cryptogamous plant of a cellular structure, with distinct stem and simple leaves. The fruit is a small capsule usually opening by an apical lid, and so discharging the spores. There are many species, collectively termed Musci, growing on the earth, on rocks, and trunks of trees, etc., and a few in running water.

   Note: The term moss is also popularly applied to many other small cryptogamic plants, particularly lichens, species of which are called tree moss, rock moss, coral moss, etc. Fir moss and club moss are of the genus Lycopodium. See Club moss, under Club, and Lycopodium.

2. A bog; a morass; a place containing peat; as, the mosses of the Scottish border.

   Note: Moss is used with participles in the composition of words which need no special explanation; as, moss-capped, moss-clad, moss-covered, moss-grown, etc.

   Black moss. See under Black, and Tillandsia.

   Bog moss. See Sphagnum.

   Feather moss, any moss branched in a feathery manner, esp. several species of the genus Hypnum.

   Florida moss, Long moss, or Spanish moss. See Tillandsia.

   Iceland moss, a lichen. See Iceland Moss.

   Irish moss, a seaweed. See Carrageen.

   Moss agate (Min.), a variety of agate, containing brown, black, or green mosslike or dendritic markings, due in part to oxide of manganese. Called also Mocha stone.

   Moss animal (Zo["o]l.), a bryozoan.

   Moss berry (Bot.), the small cranberry ( Vaccinium Oxycoccus).

   Moss campion (Bot.), a kind of mosslike catchfly ( Silene acaulis), with mostly purplish flowers, found on the highest mountains of Europe and America, and within the Arctic circle.

   Moss land, land produced accumulation of aquatic plants, forming peat bogs of more or less consistency, as the water is grained off or retained in its pores.

   Moss pink (Bot.), a plant of the genus Phlox ( Phlox subulata), growing in patches on dry rocky hills in the Middle United States, and often cultivated for its handsome flowers.
   --Gray.

   Moss rose (Bot.), a variety of rose having a mosslike growth on the stalk and calyx. It is said to be derived from the Provence rose.

   Moss rush (Bot.), a rush of the genus Juncus ( Juncus squarrosus).

   Scale moss. See Hepatica.

1. n. low wiry-stemmed branching herb or southern California having fringed pink flowers [syn: ground pink, fringed pink, Linanthus dianthiflorus]

2. low tufted perennial phlox with needlelike evergreen leaves and pink or white flowers; native to United States and widely cultivated as a ground cover [syn: mountain phlox, moss phlox, dwarf phlox, Phlox subulata]